Samsung's soaraway successful Galaxy smartphones are starting to overshadow their Google-built Android operating system. That's in the mind of the public at least, who can't tell the difference between an Android mobe and a Samsung Galaxy, according to Gartner.

Gartner Analyst Anshul Gupta explained in the report Mobile Phones, Worldwide 2012 that so many Google Android phones are now made by Samsung - 42.5 percent of those sold in 2012 - that the South Korean brand has effectively eclipsed the American one.

Asking an average shopper about Android is perhaps therefore more likely to stir up memories of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's Marvin the Paranoid Android, than Google's OS.

Gupta said:

With Samsung commanding over 42.5 percent of the Android market globally, and the next vendor at just 6 percent share, the Android brand is being overshadowed by Samsung's brand with the Galaxy name nearly a synonym for Android phones in consumers' mind share.

We imagine the news won't have Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt crying into his champagne: the deal has been mutually beneficial for Google and Samsung. Android was the planet's dominant mobile operating system in terms of sales at the end of 2012, and in the final quarter of that year Android mobe sales took 70 percent of global market share.

Google gives out Android licences almost at a loss, but the move is a strategic win for the advertising giant because it nets the search titan a massive share of the mobile web with the associated search traffic and advertising revenue - whether customers know it or not. ®